Cloud Engineer : Roles Responsibilities And All You Need To Know

Last updated on May 22,2019 7K Views

Vishal PadghanVishal is a technology enthusiast working as a Research Analyst at Edureka....Vishal is a technology enthusiast working as a Research Analyst at Edureka. He has expertise in domains like Big data, Machine Learning,Statistical Analysis and...

The way Cloud Computing has emerged over the last couple of years and the subsequent rise of Cloud Engineers is nothing short of incredible. So, no surprise that the role continues to grow in prominence with employers. This article will help you understand some of the important Cloud Engineer roles and responsibilities.

Let’s get started.

Cloud Engineer Roles and Responsibilities

A Cloud Engineer is an IT professional responsible for a number of technological responsibilities under Cloud Computing. I will assume that you are aware of what Cloud Computing is. If not, please go through this article: What is Cloud Computing?

Getting back to the subject at hand, here are some of the responsibilities of a Cloud Engineer:

Maintenance and support

Management

Planning, design and development of an application on Cloud

That means your role as a Cloud Engineer may vary depending upon the vertical you serve. You may serve as:

Cloud Security Engineer

Systems Engineer (Cloud)

Cloud Developer

Cloud Architect

Network Engineer (Cloud)

Just so that I am clear, these are just some of the designations. Nowadays Cloud Service Providers have a lot of services to offer. This means whether you are a Data Scientist, Game Developer, or a Management Consultant, there is something you can do using the Cloud. Because the Cloud is everywhere, there is tremendous variety in roles and designations.

However, if we focus on the fundamentals, we can bucket Cloud Engineers into three overarching categories.

Get Certified With Industry Level Projects & Fast Track Your Career

Major Types Of Cloud Engineers

The three major categories are:

Solutions Architect

Cloud Developer

System Operations Engineer

Based on above categories Cloud Engineer roles and responsibilities may vary. Let me throw some light on each of these roles:

Solutions Architect

These are the individuals who will be involved in designing the infrastructure and applications. Therefore, they must possess advanced technical skills and experience in designing distributed applications and systems on the Cloud platform. Simply speaking, they are responsible for creating blueprints of application designs.

These are some of their responsibilities:

Designing and deploying dynamically scalable, available, fault-tolerant, and reliable applications on the Cloud

Selecting appropriate Cloud services to design and deploy an application based on given requirements

Cloud Developer

It is pretty clear from the title that these individuals are responsible for coding and development of applications. They are expected to have knowledge of the best practices related to Cloud architecture. Cloud Developers are also involved in developing, deploying, and debugging cloud-based applications. They are expected to have:

Expertise in at least one high-level programming language

Skills for developing, deploying & debugging cloud applications

Skills in API usage, command line interface and SDKs for writing applications

Knowledge of key features of Cloud Service Providers

Understanding of application lifecycle management

Ability to use continuous integration and distribution pipelines to deploy applications

Ability to code to implement essential security measures

Skills in writing, correcting and debugging code modules

Code writing skills for serverless applications

Understanding in the use of containers in development processes

System Operations Engineer

These individuals are system administrators who take over once the application is designed and developed. They are responsible for managing and monitoring most of the activities that follow the process of development. They should possess the following skills:

Relevant experience as a systems administrator in a systems operations role

I hope the distinction between the three is clear and easy to understand. This brings us to the end of this article on ‘Cloud Engineer Roles and Responsibilities’. In case you are wondering how one becomes a cloud engineer and what approach to take to become one, here’s an article to answer all your questions: How To Become A Cloud Engineer?

This brings us to the end of this article. I hope I cleared some of your doubts about Cloud Engineering. In case you plan on taking your knowledge on Cloud Computing to the next level, then Edureka’s Cloud Masters Program may just be the thing you are looking for. If you have any queries related to this article please leave them in the comments section below and we will revert as soon as possible.